UFc 211 takes place May 13 at American Airlines Center in Dallas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass.

Rothwell, No. 5 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA heavyweight rankings, was supposed to fight No. 2 Werdum (21-6-1 MMA, 9-3 UFC) this past September at UFC 203, but a knee injury forced him to withdraw from the fight. Lately, he’s been pushing again to re-book it. Champ Miocic is No. 1 in the rankings, while Dos Santos checks in at No. 4.

Fabricio Werdum

After losing the heavyweight title to Miocic in the UFC 198 main event this past May by first-round knockout, Werdum rebounded at uFC 203 against Travis Browne with a unanimous decision. Browne stepped in for the injured Rothwell in the fight, which was a rematch from a Werdum win in April 2014. The victory gave Werdum seven wins in his past eight fights since returning to the UFC from Strikeforce. Werdum was supposed to fight fellow former champ Cain Velasquez at UFC 207 in December until Velasquez was not given medical clearance to fight.

Rothwell had a four-fight winning streak, all by stoppage, including a pair of fight-night bonus awards. But after victories over Brandon Vera, Alistair Overeem, Matt Mitrione and Josh Barnett, he ran into a resurgent Dos Santos in the UFC Fight Night 86 main event in May 2016 and dropped a decision in Croatia. Then he was sidelined with surgery after he was booked for the fight with Werdum.

Stipe Miocic

Miocic’s fight with Dos Santos will be a rematch from his most recent loss, which went to “JDS” by unanimous decision after five “Fight of the Night” rounds at UFC on FOX 13 in Phoenix in December 2014. Although most of the MMA media outlets tracked by MMADecisions.com scored the fight for Dos Santos, a handful scored it for Miocic, making it a fight he’d likely love to get back – especially as champion. After that loss, he has four straight knockout wins over Mark Hunt, Arlovski, Werdum to capture the title, and at UFC 203 in front of his home fans in Cleveland, Overeem.

Junior Dos Santos

Dos Santos has alternated wins and losses for his past seven fights. He defended his heavyweight title against Frank Mir in May 2012, then lost the belt to Velasquez in December 2012. He rebounded with a knockout of Hunt at UFC 160, then was dominated again in a trilogy rematch with Velasquez. He beat Miocic, then was knocked out by Overeem. Then he rebounded nicely with a five-round decision over Rothwell to put himself back in title contention. He was supposed to fight Stefan Struve next week in the UFC Fight Night 105 headliner in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, but a Struve injury forced him out – and it appears Dos Santos has wound up with much bigger booking, instead, with a shot to recapture the title.